Moderate Alcohol Drinking Helps Memory

Moderate drinking among older women can benefit memory according
to research at the University of Texas funded by the National Institutes
of Health.

"Moderate drinkers reported less depression, had higher self-reported
health, performed better on instrumental everyday tasks, had stronger
memory self-efficacy and improved memory performance," said
Dr. Graham McDougall, who led the research.

The performance memory tests include such topics as remembering
a story, route, hidden objects, future intentions and connecting
random numbers and letters. In all cases, the group who drank scored
better than those who did not drink. "In addition to their
actual performance on tests, the confidence of those who drank was
higher and they used more strategies to facilitate memory,"
Dr. McDougall said.

Women who drank alcohol in moderation (defined as consuming up
to two drinks of beer, wine or spirits per day) also performed better
on attention, concentration, psychomotor skills, verbal-associative
capacities and oral fluency.

Reference:

McDougall, Graham. Older Women's Cognitive
and Affective Response to Moderate Drinking. Presented at the meetings
of the National Congress on the State of Science in Nursing Research.
Washington, D.C., October 7-8,2004; University of Texas at Austin.
Moderate drinking in older adult women has positive influence on
memory. News release, October 3,2004.